Alligators eating fish could help with host of problems in Tempe

TEMPE, Ariz. -- Since the dam at Tempe Town Lake broke and the lake drained earlier this week, one of the big questions has been what will happen to the fish left behind in the drying lake bed.

Well, let's just say an alligator named Tuesday is getting one heck of a meal.

Crews were hired to go into the lake bed and scoop the fish out of the shallow pools of water that are all that's left of Tempe Town Lake.

Some of those fish -- mostly carp -- were fed to Tuesday late Friday morning.

Tuesday is a 6-foot alligator that was bred in captivity and calls the Phoenix Herpetological Society home. The Arizona Game and Fish Department picked up the gator during a routine traffic stop on Interstate 10 back in 2005.

Several other critters from the Phoenix Herpetological Society will also partake in the fish feast. While Tuesday was the only one served in style in the Tempe Center for the Arts parking lot Friday, the bulk of the fish collected from the lake bed will be taken back to the Herpetological Society and fed to its other residents.

While Tuesday and his alligator cohorts are not being released into what was Tempe Town Lake, city officials are advising people to stay out of the lake bed for their own safety.

In addition to cleaning up the fish, the city said it will treat the pools remaining in the lake bed with environmentally friendly chemicals in an effort to prevent mosquitoes.